Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage IV or Relapsed Malignant Melanoma

OBJECTIVES: * Determine the safety of administering MART-1 peptide-pulsed dendritic cells to patients with stage IV or relapsed malignant melanoma. * Determine the immunological and clinical responses in this patient population after this therapy. OUTLINE: This is a dose-escalation study. Patients undergo leukapheresis between days -14 to -8. Mononuclear cells are isolated, used to generate dendritic cells (DC), and then pulsed with MART-1 peptide. Patients are vaccinated with MART-1 peptide-pulsed DC either IV or intradermally on days 0, 14, and 28. Cohorts of 3-6 patients receive escalating doses of MART-1 peptide-pulsed DC until the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) is determined. The MTD is defined as the dose preceding that at which 2 of 6 patients experience dose-limiting toxicity. Patients are followed until death. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 18-24 patients will be accrued for this study.